Overview
Eras are a useful way to split up long periods in your calendar into different parts. You have probably heard of the eras "B.C." (Before Christ) and "A.D." (Anno Domini), and this is exactly like that.
Eras can be used for many purposes, such as change of rulers (like the Japanese imperial year denoting the change of Emperors), or large events warranting a new age (like Post Divergence in Critical Role's Exandria).
Era Settings
After creating an era, you can open it by clicking the arrow button on the entry in the era list.
Custom year header formatting
By default, the year header which is always present the top of your calendar is shown as "Year X - Era Name". By enabling this setting, you can change this to suit your needs.
Formatting
If the previous setting is enabled, this field can alter what is written in the year header. When the era becomes active, what you input here will be shown in the year header.
You can format the year header in any way you wish, and these are the available options:
- {{year}} - Displays the current year
- {{abs_year}} - Displays the current year, but without a minus in front of it if is negative. (Useful for eras such as 'Before Christ', as the year wasn't -300 BC, it was simply 300 BC)
- {{nth_year}} - This displays the current year, but with 'st', 'nd', 'rd' or 'th' after it, when applicable.
- {{abs_nth_year}} - Combination of abs_year and nth_year.
- {{era_year}} - The current era year. If any eras in the past has restarted the year count, this number will be different than the year number.
- {{era_nth_year}} - Similar to nth_year, but counting only the era years.
- {{abs_era_nth_year}} - Similar to abs_nth_year, but with era years.
- {{era_name}} - Inserts the current name of the era
For example, if the year of your calendar is 500, and the current era is called "Post Calamity", you could enter something like:
The {{nth_year}} Year, {{era_name}}
which would become:
The 500th Year, Post Calamity
Show As Event
When this setting is enabled, the era will display an event on the date that the era is set to start.
Edit Event Description
As you can click any event in the calendar to read its description, you might want to write a sentence or two about the era. By clicking this button, you can edit the era's event description.
Is Starting Era (like B.C.)
In the case of B.C., it doesn't start on a date, it is simply there until A.D. becomes the current era. In essence, think of a starting era as the 'default era' - it will be active until it becomes interrupted by another era.
Date
This is the date when the era becomes active. If another era is active before this one, that one ends, and this era becomes active. This is only available to enter if the era is not the starting era.
Ends Year
In some cases, you might want to have the era prematurely 'end' the calendar year. In this case, on the date that the era comes into effect, the year will end, and a new year will begin. This is useful for calendars that track their calendar year based on the current ruling emperor, and in the case of their death, their calendar will end and a new one will begin to denote a change of power.
Note: This is only available to enable if you have Length Based Seasons, as this does not end the seasonal year, as with length based seasons, the seasonal year is no longer directly tied to the calendar year. For example, abruptly ending the year in summer does not mean that the first day in the next year will be winter. The seasonal year will continue to go through its cycles without regards to the calendar year.
Restarts Year Count
This setting will allow you to restart the displayed year at the top of the calendar. As such, we track two year numbers in your calendar, the 'era year' and the 'absolute year'. The society described above might want to track which year of which emperor it currently is, but also how many years it has been since the first year of the start of the calendar.